Oil Covering a Beach - Black Sea Oil Spill 11/12/07

ENVIRONMENTAL WATCH ON THE NORTH CAUCASUSMailing List------------------------------------------------------------------

Taman Tries the Taste of Oil

Guilt for the environmental catastrophe in the Strait of Kerch lies with the authorities in Russia and Ukraine, as well as with the companies transporting dangerous cargo

On November 11, 2007 in the Strait of Kerch on the anchoragearea No.450, located in the maritime administration of the KerchPortТs (Ukraine) area of responsibility, and also on the TamanHandling Complex located in the maritime administration of thePorts of Temriuk and Kavkaz (Russia) area of responsibility, amassive shipwreck occurred, involving dangerous cargo. The reasonsfor the accident included stormy weather, the lack of technicalpreparedness of the ships to work in such weather conditions andthe disdain of the shipsТ captains when they were warned of thestorms. The first catastrophe befell the tanker УVolgoneft-139Ф at theanchorage area No.450, which had 4.77 thousands tons of fuel oilon board. It literally split in two. Then, within the span of twohours, one after the other, three ships loaded with sulfursank: "Volnogorsk", which had more than 2.6 tons of
sulfur onboard; "Nakhichevan", with two thousands tons of
sulfur; and"Kovel", with 2.1 thousands tons of sulfur. In addition, the Tanker "Volganeft-123" sustained
damage, andthe barges "Dika" and "Dimetra," which were
carrying fuel oil andwere not self-propelled, were wrecked by their anchors.Fortunately, these accidents, according to the most currentinformation, did not lead to oil spills. A colossal environmental catastrophe has ensued. A significantpart of the shoreline of the Taman Peninsula is immersed inpetroleum products. The Tuzla Spit, the Chushka Spit - on the sideof the Strait of Kerch - and the beaches near the villages ofIlyich and Priazovskii are completely covered in oil (see thephotograph in the attachment). On the coast of the Sea of Azov oilhas reached the Cape of Kammenyi. On the shore of the Black Seaoil has reached the village of Volna on the southern part of theTaman Peninsula. The critical nature of the catastrophic situation is increasedby the fact that the region suffering is exceptionally valuableand vulnerable from the ecological perspective. The Strait ofKerch is a body of water of the highest fisheries category as itis the migration route for fish between the Azov and Black Seas,including many species that are included in the Red Book of theRussian Federation and Red List of the International Union for theConservation of Nature (IUCN). As a result of the oil pollution inthe sea, fish species have suffered colossal damage. Dolphins,which are also protected in accordance with Russian andInternational Red Books, also live in the polluted expanse ofwater. The Taman-Zaporozhie Wildlife Preserve, which was createdin 1967, is also adjacent to the Strait of Kerch, and its naturalcomplexes have also suffered greatly. The entire Chushka Spit, thewhole western bank and southern end of which are covered with oil,are part of this protected area, which was designated a speciallyprotected territory of the shores of the Black and Azov Seas bythe government of the Russian Federation in 1996, a standing whichhas federal significance. The Wildlife Preserve was created, firstand foremost, to protect birds. Tens of thousands of birds havealready died as a result of oil pollution. And at least as manyare covered with a layer of oil and are destined for death. Thereare no plans to save them. Analyzing the reasons for what has happened, the representativesof the authorities of Russia and Ukraine do not speak about themain reasons for the catastrophe, which lie not with the surfaceof the force majeur of the weather conditions and the mistakes ofthe ship captains. For these reasons are their own decisions. The roots of what happened lie with the fact that in 1999, inthe Strait of Kerch at the Russian Port Kavkaz, the Taman HandlingComplex in fact a new "floating" oil-chemical port, was
built,through which petroleum products, sulfur and fertilizers aretransferred from small sized boats to those that hold many tons.The Ukrainian Port of Kerch also began additional commercialtransport at the anchorage areas No.450 in 2001. As a result, alarge number of ships with dangerous cargo are always in thecommercial lanes of the Strait of Kerch. Thus, because of theextremely difficult conditions for navigation in the Strait ofKerch, such as shallow water, high winds (storm winds with a speedgreater than 15 meters/second are noted in the region on anaverage of 28 percent of the days of the year), a lack of any kindof natural shelter for the boats, the possibility of the rapidformation of water spouts, an accident was bound to happen sooneror later. Such an oil and chemical port should never have beencreated in the Strait of Kerch. The motivation for such a decision was the greater economicbenefit from transport of such dangerous cargo. Environmentalrisks accompanying the commercial transfer of such dangerous cargothrough the Strait of Kerch were considered secondary. Theinterests of private companies interested in transferringdangerous cargo for state organs were considered to be moreimportant than environmental protection. Therefore, effective systems to liquidate oil spills were notcreated either in the Port Kavkaz or in the Kerch Port. Theseports were not equipped with the necessary technical equipment tocollect spilled oil. The Port Kavkaz does not even have theability to collect oil in the event of an oil spill, andcurrently, there is nowhere to put the spilled oil, which will becollected. The authorities and the companies are also guilty because shipswere used for transport of dangerous cargo in the Strait of Kerch,which were not technically suited for use in difficult stormconditions. If they had not used them, the hull of the Tanker"Volgoneft-139" would not have split in two. The enormous oil pollution in the sea is, without a doubt, themost serious consequence of maritime activity that has occurred inthe Strait of Kerch. But the seven thousand tons of sulfur thatare now lying on the floor of the strait also promise nothinggood. Further more, this sulfur is not in containers, as officialsare stating. It is lying in piles in the holds of the sunkenships. Because the storm in the Strait of Kerch is getting stronger,there is no possibility to stop the flow of oil in the sea andorganize its collection and removal. The black oil stains aretaking over the entire marine territory and the catastrophe isbecoming bigger and bigger. And thus, the ancient land of Taman has gotten a full taste ofwhat oil is. This is by no means economic prosperity, as manyinvestors have promised. It is dead birds and fish, a polluted seaand beaches. The fuel oil left on the bottom of the sea will belong remembered, and will continue to poison the regionТs maritimeecosystem for many years. The catastrophe in the Strait of Kerch should stand as a lessonfor the authorities in Russia. They are obligated to listen to theopinions of the local population and to public environmentalorganizations, who have tried to show them for the past ten yearsthat the Taman Peninsula is not a location for oil and chemicalports.

Andrey RUDOMAKHA Victoria KUCHERENKO (Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus)